Models
The rubber hits the road when good ideas are transformed into actionable projects. We’ve been fortunate to be part of initiatives that have trail blazed new strategies for facilitating social change. And just as we’re committed to turning ideas into action, we’re committed to sharing the models we’ve developed as a way of propelling change in communities around the world. All of these materials are under the creative commons license... which ultimately means that we want to hear how you are using them... it makes us feel good.
Shared Spaces for Social Innovation
The Centre for Social Innovation has a mission to catalyze, support and inspire social innovation. But along the way we’ve learned a thing or two about building community workspaces! The shared space model is the springboard for all of our work, and the social enterprise that underpins our operations. We’ve been deluged by requests from people and organizations across the globe who are eager to develop their own shared spaces, so we created the Shared Spaces for Social Innovation series as a way of revealing just about everything we’ve learned about shared workspaces. Click here to download our publications and for more on the SSSI Series.
Community Bonds
They say necessity is the mother of invention. The Centre for Social Innovation was dealing with some necessity of its own when we were facing the $6.5 million purchase of the CSI Annex building! As an organization with almost no accumulated surplus, we knew that creativity would be key making the project a success. So we brought together some incredibly bright minds and conceived of the Community Bond – an innovation in social finance that allows regular citizens to purchase RRSP-eligible bonds in support of the CSI Annex project. We’re working on a report to share the details of how others can replicate the Community Bond model for their own projects; in the meanwhile, click here for more about the Bonds.
Constellation Model of Governance
The Constellation Model of Governance is a framework for collaboration amongst a variety of partners. Borrowing insights and tools from complexity science and the Internet, the Constellation Model is a strategy for pursuing social change in a dynamic universe. We’ve employed the model with a handful of projects including the Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment, the Ontario Nonprofit Network, and the Frontline Partners with Youth network. We have also watched as others have adapted the model for their own multi-organization collaborations. For more on the model and how you can adapt it to your own projects, click here.
